Appreciates: laid-back, low-key spots. RV lots. Anything remotely similar to Baker or Whitewater. Beer served by the pitcher. Uncertainty whether the resort owns grooming equipment. A noticeable absence of GoPros on blue runs. Touchy cell phone service. Touchy plumbing. Slow fixed doubles. Very high population of old people and young children who ski very, very well. Great slackcountry terrain. Locals who ski said slack terrain with extremely heavy frame bindings and tele gear but are still wayyyy too fast to follow them out to the best goods. I've also got a particularly soft spot for Canada.

Lookout Pass--sounds like the interior PNW might be easy to access for you, and directly off of I90 should make taking an RV relatively easy compared to many locations. Might add it to the trip on the way out to Bridger Bowl. Lost Trail outside of Missoula might be another side visit on that same trek out to Bozeman

I believe many here are on a similar quest. Anthony Lakes, Castle mountain, Skibowl (though it's close enough to town to have too many GoPros), Marmot, Shames Mountain, Red Lodge, Bogus, Red Mountain are some I'e heard may qualify.... In CO, I was quite pleased with how old school Ski Sunlight was. Slow double chair, very little groomed. Cheap local beer. Even a mystery box of stuff in case you lose a glove or somesuch. My friend who was with me called it a "Little House on the Prairie" Ski area.

Alta has reverse snobism of it's Altoids.
Probably Powder Mt should be on there. Even Brighton.
Targhee should definitely be on the list. It's got from small "my first cliff drop" to to you will die cliffs. It's a sweetheart of a place.
Taos in NM really and also some of the smaller places there but don't know them.
Sunshine in Glenwood Springs sort of fits the bill. Don't know about epic slack country there.
I guess you should do Berthoud Pass but it's not a ski area.

Discovery MT. Amazing chocolate chip cookies. Fun fairly gnar backside terrain. $50 lift tickets. Really no town. 2:30 west of Bridger. If your on that side of MT definitely worth more than the price of admission.

Actually anything in Montana outside of Big Sky fills the bill. And, in the interest of reducing my liftline, knock us off the list as well. ;-) After all, there are bars here and they are open at night and we have grooming equipment.

In all fairness, you mentioned Baker as an exemplar for what you are looking for, but you also mentioned they should have slow fixed doubles, bad plumbing, and touchy cell service. Baker has all newer quads (all fixed, however) great plumbing, and good cell service. The rest fits.

Appreciates: laid-back, low-key spots. RV lots. Anything remotely similar to Baker or Whitewater. Beer served by the pitcher. Uncertainty whether the resort owns grooming equipment. A noticeable absence of GoPros on blue runs. Touchy cell phone service. Touchy plumbing. Slow fixed doubles. Very high population of old people and young children who ski very, very well. Great slackcountry terrain. Locals who ski said slack terrain with extremely heavy frame bindings and tele gear but are still wayyyy too fast to follow them out to the best goods. I've also got a particularly soft spot for Canada.

Actually anything in Montana outside of Big Sky fills the bill. And, in the interest of reducing my liftline, knock us off the list as well. ;-) After all, there are bars here and they are open at night.

Click to expand...

Bahaha! Love this - Whitefish is on the list as an option for a stop to or from Bridger. I would've been there several times this season while it was raining here if the Amtrak sleeper cars weren't so pricey!

In all fairness, you mentioned Baker as an exemplar for what you are looking for, but you also mentioned they should have slow fixed doubles, bad plumbing, and touchy cell service. Baker has all newer quads (all fixed, however) great plumbing, and good cell service. The rest fits.

Click to expand...

Doesn't necessarily need to check the box on everything, just giving a sense of the general vibe (but I'm pretty sure the women's restroom in the Heather Meadows lodge has some sort of "hold down/jiggle the handle" signage in the stalls). Now that Stevens has sold to Vail, we're seriously considering making the jump up to Baker, despite the commute.

Powder Alliance are probably a good place to start: Whitewater of course, but also Silver Star and Schweitzer up there. Red Lodge Mountain in Montana.

Click to expand...

Insult to injury - this year is my last on the Powder Alliance (*curses vail*), hence the Bridger trip. Keep the CO tips coming. My Atlanta brother & sister in law are definitely the Aspen/Vail/Park City type, so we rotate trips out that way some years and love to tack on a "palate cleanser" day or two on the back end.

With the crowd building I've witnessed in UT and other places in the Rockies, this is an inevitable trend.

When I moved to UT 6 years ago, one seldom saw a luxury SUV. Lifties sat at the bar next to multis and you couldn't really tell the difference even after talking to them. Especially after talking to them. This year while in town and on the way to Deer Valley, I saw no less than 6 Range Rover or Porche SUVs in a row on Kearns. You might not have seen one 3-4 years ago. The skiing ranges from still great to pretty damn crowded and agro depending upon day and conditions.

Now I split time between PC and a rural valley 30 minutes from GT. Don't think the little places are the complete answer. You do miss things and they have hair too just different hair. The world changes and it can be hard on the things you love.

Insult to injury - this year is my last on the Powder Alliance (*curses vail*), hence the Bridger trip. Keep the CO tips coming. My Atlanta brother & sister in law are definitely the Aspen/Vail/Park City type, so we rotate trips out that way some years and love to tack on a "palate cleanser" day or two on the back end.

Click to expand...

Sunlight is the perfect Aspen antidote. Stop by Cripple Creek Backcountry shop in Carbondale to talk shop, drink a beer and get beta on good camping spots.

And if they want to get in Telluride, then Silverton obviously. Or some night skiing at Hesperus are great options.

Powder mountain is great. If a lack of apres scene is your thing, it's really the spot . Nights in that valley get cold AF...at least they did in the truck camper we took there.